Means for preventing vehicle thefts and recovery of stolen vehicles



MEANS FOR PREVENTING VEHICLE THEFTS AND RECOVERY OF .STOLEN VEHICLES Filed oct. 28. i921 5 sheets-sheet 1 a v 1c2225=r Il.-

Elma/m March 1s 1924. 1,487,041 'B. F. TOZIER MEANS FOR PREVETING VEHICLE THEJFTS` AND RECOVERY OF STOLEN VEHICLES Filed oct. 28. 1921 3 sheets-sheet 2 l ira-J:- L...

[apll 1 A11/1.

d/a/ah'canzs 'gnai'are www/Moz Tozier' I Mrch 18,1924. 1,487,043

B. F. TOZIER MEANS FOR PREVENTING VEHICLE-THEFTS AND RECOVERY 0F sToLEN VEHICLES Filed Oct. 28 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Tozr J Zice of he Rance Iloar' Public or' eczlal, Cornrnisslonev n 'M gin/Dmoz Patented Mar. 1S, 1924.

BENJAMIN F. TOZIER, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

MEANS non rnnvnnrrno VEHICLE mensaje AND RECOVERY or s'roLEiv VEHICLES.

Application led October 28, 1921.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN' F. Tor/1ER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and Stato 5 of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improifements in Means for Pre-- venting Vehicle Thefts and Recovery of Stolen Vehicles, of which the following is aspec'iication.

This invention relates to means for preventing automobile thefts and for recoveringthe same in case perchance they should be stolen, which latter step, however, is well guarded against by my invention.-

It has for a further obfect to insure each city and town shall receive proper revenue for taxation at all times. By the use of my invention an automobile owner cannot dodge taxes. My improvement, therefore, not only protects the automobile owner,

but safeguards the community and insures that each owner shall pay such taxes as the law provides for in such cases.

My improvement also will serve to prevent any person from obtaining any number of license plates or tags by simply stating that he owns a stated number of cars.

A person must own and produce a car before he or she can obtain a license plate or tag. I-Ie cannot get his tags and then wait hisI opportunity to lsteal 'a carv and change its tag, as is now possible.

Under my improvement I assure positive protection for the car owner,v the insurance companies, the public, the police oicials,

the cities and towns and States, as well as the automobile dealer. tion is universal, and1 by the use of my improvement-they insurance rates against automobiley thefts will be greatly reduced, as it greatly reduces the risk.

My present improvements embody a multiplicity of sheets or cards, one being an application blank for registration, one a` blank of substantially thesame character and data for use by a national automobile bureau, and the third a combinedv sheet orv card consisting of a portion to be retained by the assessors of the town or city, and detachable coupons or receipts, one for the registrant, one for the chief of police, and another for the police inspector. The character of thesevarious sheets', and, receipts will new be described andthe mode ofuse that In fact, the protec-f thereof, it' beingunderstoed that the various Serial No. 51 1,022.

pointed out in the appended claims..

,The invention, in its preferred form, is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which, with the numerals of ref,- erence marked thereon, form a part of'this specification, and in which-.-

Figure'l isa front face View of the sheet which goes to the assessors, with'the coupons attached.

Figure 2 is a simi-larview ofthe registration blank.

Figure 3 is a similar view of the sheet that goesto the automobile bureau.

It will be understood that .the coupons or receipts may form a part of either of the other sheets, or a single Ireceipt or coupon may be a part of each sheet, asmay be found most expedient, the mode of use and the result attained being the same.

In the present form of lmy invention 1 designates a sheet, to be herein termed the registration sheet. q uisite data, as shown, and by reason of the information which it conveys it will, in connection with the otherv sheets, prevent .the selling of astolen car having the definite engine number, a denite license number, police inspectors report', and special identiication mark. vAlso the signature of the registrant is another safeguard. This is-to be executed before a notary public or justice of the peace, or other duly authorized officer.

2 designates a sheet or card, a duplicate of sheet or card l1, and ,this is to be known as the automobile bureau sheet or card. Itis to be filled in the same as sheet or card 1. Its purpose will soon be described.

3 designates thethird sheet or card which is to be knownas the assessors sheet or card. It is provided with the data shown and its purpose will be described later on. VForming a part of this sheet or card,.or a part of either of the other cards or sheets or a single one on each of the cards ornsheets, arelcoupons 4, 5 and 6, Each of thesey coupons `bears the sameinformation ondata andthese It vhas thereon the relll to which they are attached, as by means of a line of pertorations, as seen at 7, 8 and 9, in Figure l.

@ne ot the coupons is to be retained by the registrant, to be carried at all times in the car, one is te be retained by the chiei2 of police, and the other by the police inspector.

The mode or" use is as follows:-

All the various forms are handled by the State and distributed by the registration department to the various cities and townsu Form No. l is lcpt by the State registration otticer. wdorm No. Q is ltept by the bureau which is run independenti]y for the State. Forni No. il is sont to the board ot assessors ot the various cities and towns,

lForm No. 4l is keptin the motor vehicle at all times. Form lilo. 5 is sent to the chieiz of police of all cities and towns.

Form lilo. 6 is l bythe police inspector or the cars ant owner oit the veli'cle and receives his number trom the State.

ln reo'istering or transierriiur; a vehicle the owner notities the c i c ot police, who has the vehicle examined by the inspector, to the number on the motor, the model, the year or any other special identilication marh or marks, and atter having ven the matter careful attention and inspection and finding the same all right and correct, he stamps or signs his name, niunber and address stated in the torm, wnere so designated on coupon 6, as well as on the other coupons l and 5, and the board et assessors card or sheet 3, and upon the automobile bureau card or sheet and upon the registration sheet i. He then tears oil coupon 6 which he retains which is his record and evidence that the vehicle is what it is claimed to be and that it is the property of the registrant. The registrant then goes to the place where the license tags or plates are given out and where records oit the registration are lept and upon presentation ot his registration sheet or card prop erly filled out and signed by the police inspector, he receives his license plates or tags and the coupon l which he is supposed to keep at all times in his car as evidence that ie has fully complied with the law. Y

The registration oiiice keeps card or sheet l tor iuture reterence, and the registration oliicer ot each State, or the duly authorized oliicer, will send to the chiet of police et the city or town coupon which is his record ont registration and a preventive from any person forging any inspectors name. t

The board oi assessors report or sheet 8, after the coupons have been detached, goes to the assessors or" the city or town where the automobile owner lives, which. enables the beard of assessors to tax each and every automobile owner beyond all question et doubt and thus the said city er town is put in position to collect a revenue which in presented by the i ,cerner many instances is dodged, under present conditions rlhe sheet or card 2 goes to the National Automobile Bureau for record, being tiled away in its proper tile tor reference at any time.

Upon the transfer et any vehicle the regis tration card or sheet and the number plates shall be taken by the police inspector, as

without an automobile the registration card or sheet and plates are worthless under my improvement. rlhieves cannot apply them to another car.

lt makes no difference where a car stolen it the niunbers have not been changed, and that car is registered any where in the United States, just as soon as registration card or sheet reaches the bureau they ha e the name or the police inspector, and ir he has been in league with the thief, tor which proper autho 1ities can punish, the police oilicer and the bureau at once have the exact name and place et residence ot the car and owner, and speedy recovery can be made. llt is impossible to register one car under any but its proper name, for instance, one could not register a Ford for a Buick, or any other make oit car. i

lt numbers have been changed and passed by the police inspector who should know that tact, when the registration card or sheet` comes to the National lureau and place in the files, it is at once found out that one ot the two cars having` such nummust have been stolen or changed to Lud the insurance company. lt maires no ditterence what the location may be, for instance one might be No. fil?, Texas, and the other No. 41.17 Pennsylvaniag one of these must have been stolen, and the proper authorities having the name of the owner, the malte of the car, the city or town in which the owner took out registration papers, and the police inspector, it is a very easy matter to locate the thief or7 at least, to retain theV one car until its owner can be found.

My improvement will serve to aid in the recovery of stolen cars for their owners and the insurance companies and will stop the theft or cars as it will be impossible tor a person to register a car unless under special identitication marks and even then it can be traced at once if they be wrong.

lf a person steals a car, he can do nothing with it, for he cannot drive it except under the number thereon, as he has no license tag or plate to put on it, and he cannot get another to put on, and in order to get a new license plate he must have a car and have it inspected and prove ownership. lle cannot get it registered because he has no number plate to turn over to the police inspector, or if he has the said number .must correspond with the car and in that case it lill) will be seen that the man and the car can be rea-dily identified. Under my improvement it will be impossible for one to steal a car and operate the same in any of the States.

In the same way it will enable the proper authorities to collect the proper tax for every month in the year. For example, supposing the tax rate in a city or town to be thirty dollers per thousand. If one has a car valued at one thousand dollars, registered May 1, 1921, and uses it or transfers on July 1, 1921, that shows that he has had the same two months at the rate of two dollars and a half a month, and he should be rendered a tax bill for fivev dollars, and so on, the car at all times being under taxation and paying for the privilege the city or town allows.

A person could not register a stolen car because he could not produce all the evidence necessaryto prove his ownership. The three sheets or cards are thus a collective safeguard against any depredation and insure a convenient form of title evidence for the car. As soon as a thief finds out that he cannot get away with a stolen car, automobile thefts throughout the country will drop to a minimum and eventually be unknown. The cost of car insurance, therefore, must drop proportionately, for the risk will be reduced to practically nil.

What is claimed as new is 1. A registration sheet having approprisaid car, a corresponding sheet for the assessors bearing corresponding data, and a sheet for the use of an automobile bureau bearing co-related data, each sheet having an appropriately designated space for the signature of the party by whom the ,car is inspected, and coupons with data co-related to said sheets. y

2. A registration sheet having appropriately designated spaces for the name of the owner of a car and other data concerning said car, a corresponding sheet for the assessors, a sheet for the use of an automobile bureau, and coupons bearing data relating to the identification of the car and corresponding to the number of sheets, one to he retained by the owner, one by the police inspector and another by the chief of police, and each so designated, with appropriately designated spaces for the signature of the person inspecting the car.

3. A registration sheet, an assessors sheet, and an automobile bureaus sheet, each having appropriately designated spaces for the requisite data pertaining to a car, and a series of coupons detachably connectedto one of said sheets by perforations, each bearing co-related data, one for the registrant, one for'the chief of police, and one for the inspector, and each having appropriately designated spaces for the signature of the owner, the police inspector and the chief of police.

In testimony whereof I aiX my signature.

BENJAMIN F.' TOZIER. 

